Concrete door-frame construction



Apr. 17, 1923. I 1,451,713

G. J. SAFFERT CONCRETE DOOR FRAME CONSTRUCTION Filed May a, 1922 J3 lizl/miw", [kl/lye fly/9761i, (2 4 6 Patented Apr. 17, i923.

GEORGE J. SAFFERT, OF NEW 'ULM, MINNESOTA.

CONCRETE DOOR-FRAME CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed May 8,

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, GEORGE J. SA FERT, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Ulm, in the county of Brown and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Concrete Door- Frame Construction, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to concrete door frames, and more particularly to the composite type, which consist of portable members constituting finished articles of manufacture, and which are adapted to be set in place to form part of the general wall mold so that the wall may be cast directly against the jambs and lintel and around anchors thereof.

It is an object of my invention to provide in door frame members, cast of concrete or any suitable fire proof material, certain novel and cheap reinforcing means which will include readily renewable hinge member supporting devices, whereby accurate vertical alinement of the hinge members is facilitated in the process of manufacturing the door jambs.

In the ordinary process of casting door jambs, it has been found very difficult to accurately locate and align the hinge members so that the door will hang plumb when the jambs are cast into the wall, inasmuch as the slightest inaccuracy in the placement of the jambs relative to the wall mold, will throw the hinge members out of plumb without recourse for later correcting the error.

Further, when three hinges are employed one above the other, the slightest deviation from straight alinement of any one of them, will cause the door to bind, and result in transverse fractures of the jamb. This is a common occurrence in practice, where the hinge members are embedded directly in the concrete.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a construction in door frames of this character which will afford recourse for correcting inaccuracies met with in the proc ess of erection.

To this end the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Tn the drawings forming part of this specification Figure 1, is a fragmentary front elevation 1922. Serial No. 559,240.

of a concrete door frame embodying my in vention.

Fig. 2, is a Fig. 1.

Fig. 3, is an enlarged View of the outer edge of a section of the door jamb.

Fig. 4, is a sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5, is a perspective view of the assembled reinforcing element, which is completely embedded in the jamb, and

F 1g. 6, is a perspective view of one of the hinge member supports forming part of the reinforcing element.

In the drawings, A designates the concrete wall, and the ground line B, the top of the plate or foundation, as the case may be.

The door frame comprises a right and left handed door jamb member 1 and 2, and a lintel 3 extending across the tops of the gamb members and preferably flush with the front and rear sides thereof.

The jamb members are rectangular in cross section, and are formed at the. front sectional view on line 22 of .inner corner with a longitudinal rab-bet &

forming a shoulder 5 which constitutes a stop for the door (not shown). The outer edge of the jamb member facing the wall mold is formed throughout its length, with a wide shallow recess 6 preferably divided at intervals by transverse partitions 7, said recess being adapted to receive the concrete 1n the process of pouring the wall for the purpose of anchoring the jamb against lateral movement.

For the purpose of securing the iamb members to the wall the rod anchors 8 are provided. These anchors extend through the jamb into the interior of the wall mold and are preferably bent at their free ends to anchor them against withdrawal when.

embedded in the cement.

Extending through the jamb member so as to be flush with the outer and inner faces 9 and 10, thereof and at right angles thereto, arethe tubular sockets 11. These sockets are formed preferably of ordinary piping, the inner endslQ thereof being slightly flattened or distorted to form an oval or What may be termed a dovetail whereby the socket is firmly dovetailed to oppose longitudinal movement thereof toward the outer side 9 of the jamb and to prevent a rotary movement thereof. The tubular sockets when distorted as described do not materially change in external surface area, but displace less concrete in distorted form than in their normal shape. This is important in that the cross sectional area of the door jamb at the oint of penetration of the socket is thus re duced less than if the pipe had not been distorted, thereby materially strengthening the jainb at its weakest point. The top and bottom walls of the socket have vertically alined transverse clefts or notches 13, which cut through the wall at intervals intermediate the length of the socket.

In the drawings, two spaced pairs of clefts are shown, that portion of the pipe wall immediately adjacent the cleft and between the latter and the front side 9 of the jamb, being struck or bent inwardly to form internal shoulders 14, which have inclined approaches 15, so that a wooden plug as indicated by the numeral 16, may be driven into the socket toward the crushed end 12 thereof. Obviously, the fibre of the dry wood will be compressed as it rides over the inclines in the process of driving, but will thereafter swell and fairly fill the socket. Thus the plug becomes dovetailed in the socket, but can be driven out from the oval end thereof when desired. As the sockets may be made of relatively large diameter, absolute vertical alineinent thereof is not essential, inasmuch as the location .of the hinge members may be accurately laid out on the circular faces of the plugs. Holes may then be drilled to receive the screw shank 17 of the screw hook 18. The screw hooks, which may be termed hinge members, may thus be accurately placed as desired before the door frame is sent to the place of erection.

To'facilitate placing the sockets in the jamb mold, I preferably incorporate them in the reinforcing element 19 for reinforcing the member longitudinally. The element shown comprises four parallel spaced rods 20 having suitable hooked anchor ends 21, the rods being bound together in pairs by means of bond wires 22. As indicated in Fig. 6, the bond wires are of relatively small diameter and lie in the clefts transversely of the socket (best shown in Fig. 4c) and are twisted around the rods to bind them against opposite sides of the socket.

As shown, the abrupt shoulder formed on the outside of the socket by the cleft rests against the embedded bond wires, so that the socket is further anchored by the latter. Thus, the reinforcement element may be easily inserted into the mold as a unit.

The lintel 3 is provided with embedded threaded bolts 2? extending from the underside thereof, said bolts extending through the stop 241-, andhaving suit-able nuts whereby the stop may be firmly bolted in place. The stop consists ordinarily of a board, the

front edge thereof flush with the shoulder 5, to make a seat for the door (not shown) when the latter is closed.

Obviously the swelling of the wooden plugs would crack the jamb members if the plugs were not encased in the tubes or sockets. The sockets may also be used independently of the reinforcements, when the notches 13 will become embedded to function as additional anchoring meansfor the socket.

It is to be understood that the sockets may be used for other types of door hinges such as wing hinges, and the like. In such cases the plug filled tubes may be of smaller diameter, and holes for hinge bolts drilled clear through the plugs so that the nuts of the bolts will appear on the inside of the frame.

As my improved doors are largely used for barns and farm buildings where they are subjected to the elements, the plugs at times decay and require renewal. By extending the sockets through the jamb member this becomes an easy task.

As the sockets are smaller at their inner ends, the plug may be driven firmly home against the crushed end.

I claim:

1. A portable article of manufacture comprising an elongated body portion of molded concrete, formed rectangular in cross section, and tubes open at both ends and being vertically spaced and vertically alined and embedded in parallelism in the concrete, the open ends thereof being approximately flush respectively with opposite faces of said body portion, and being located approximately midway of said faces relative to thelong edges thereof.

2. A portable door jamb member as an article of manufacture, consisting of an elongated body portion of molded concrete, said body portion being rectangular in cross section, cylindrical tubes slightly distorted to render them partially uncylindrical without changing the aggregate circumferential surface thereof. and being open at both ends and vertically spaced and vertically alined and embedded in parallelism in the concrete body and formed to penetrate through the latter to opposite sides thereof in a manner to maintain the surface of said sides flat and unobstructed and to reduce the cross sectional area of the concrete body at'the point of penetration to "the extent effected solely by the area occupied by the tubes.

A portable door jamb member as an article of manufacture, consisting of abody portion of molded concrete, said. body portion being rectangular in cross section, and tubes open at both ends and vertically alined and spaced, and embedded in parallelism in the concrete to form a hole clear through said concrete member, each of said tubes being formed of cylindrical pipe which is distorted in a manner to simultaneously effect anchorage for a fibrous plug driven into the tube, for the tube itself in the concrete, and a reduction of the area normally occupied by the undistorted tube to thereby secure maximum cross sectional area for the concrete body at the points of penetration of said tubes.

4. A door frame jamb member consisting of an elongated slender body portion of molded concrete, said body portion being rectangular in cross section, and a reinforce ment element embedded in the concrete extending the major portion of the length thereof, said element includin vertically spaced metallic sockets, irregularly round in cross section and of uniform external circumferential area throughout their length and extending horizontally from the outer face of the body portion to the inner face thereof, whereby to reduce the cross sec tional area of said body portion solely to the extent of displacement of said tubes.

A door frame jamb member consisting of a body portion of molded concrete, said body portion being rectangular in cross section, and a reinforcement element embedded in the concrete, extending the major portion of the length thereof, said element including horizontally disposed vertically spaced metallic sockets extending through said body portion from the inner to the outer face thereof and having horizontal tran versely disposed external clefts in their upper and lower sides, and bond Wires lying in said clefts to function as anchors to hold the sockets against dislodgment.

6. A cement door frame comprising j amb members rectangular in cross section and recessed on the side adjacent to the well, each being formed With a longitudinal rabbet at its front inner corner to form a seat for the door, a lin'tel supported on the tops of said jambs and having embedded fastening bolts extending from the underside thereof, a Wooden stop member flush with the rabbets of said j amb members to form seat for the top edge of the door, vertically spaced metallic tubes extending through said jamb members from the outer to the inner sides thereof, a filler of fibrous material removably secured in said tubes, and hinge members mounted in said fillers one for each of said tubes.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

GEORGE J. SAFFERT. 

